Tottenham’s Steven Pienaar confirms he is out of Champions League clash against Real Madrid with groin injury

EPL : Steven Pienaar – Martin Petrov, Tottenham v Bolton

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Steven Pienaar has admitted defeat in his bid to recover from a groin strain in time for Tottenham’s Champions League quarter-final clash with Real Madrid in the Bernabeu.

With Spurs already sweating over the fitness of Gareth Bale, the South African – who started both ties against AC Milan in the previous round – was the most likely to deputise for the Welshman should his hamstring injury rule him out of Tuesday’s showdown.

Pienaar has struggled with the niggling injury since his move from Everton in January, but having announced that he had overcome his recent setback, the former Toffees man confirmed via his official Twitter account that his injury had flared up again.

“I’m Out for the Madrid game. Groin still not right,” Pienaar revealed.

His withdrawal comes eight years after the South African’s last escapade in the competition, in which his Ajax side were defeated by AC Milan in the quarter-finals, and speaking to Tottenham’s official website, Pienaar admitted that he was looking forward to the prospect of advancing further in the competition this time around.

“We Ajax were a few seconds away from the semi-final,” said Pienaar. “It was heartbreaking for us at the time but hopefully now I can go one step further.

“We had a very young team full of potential at Ajax but we lost against the best team at that time – AC Milan went on to win the trophy.

“It was sad but as I said, hopefully I’ll go one step further with Spurs.”